I wonder how anxious the egret will be to swallow that Nerodia when it musks in the bird's mouth!

I have been using Sony XQD with my D850 for the past year. 64GB seems to be the sweet spot for my workflow.

Thanks again! Jerry, that is an ingenious solution! Watch out RRS!

Thanks everyone. These are all fantastic ideas. Before I decide on the best solution for my needs I am going to rig up a temporary support, based on the ideas above, to see if this lens arrangement works for me. I have tried other mid-zoom + reversed prime combos and have been disappointed by the amount of distortion and CA. Thanks again. This has been extremely helpful!

Thanks Carol. That looks like just what I had in mind. I had not known about this device. I will get in touch by PM in the next few days (after this weather moves on!). Thanks!

Thanks Mr. Wallace. I was just looking at that. Might be just the thing.

I agree. I will probably end up going that route. I'm not concerned that the length and weight will break the mount, but this is a pretty cheap lens and I could see the contacts getting bent. But most likely not! Thanks again!

Thanks for the suggestions. I do use a good L-plate for the camera, have a very heavy studio tripod, and always use a remote shutter release. What worries me is having all that unsupported weight stressing the camera's F-mount. I didn't show it in the picture, but I would have the 70-300 extended fully, which is another 5 inches, or so.

Evening all...

I do a lot of macro work in the studio. My go-to set up is an APS-C DSLR (D7500) on a Nikon bellows and a variety of enlarger lenses or reversed primes. It can turn into a pretty heavy, weight-forward system, but the bellows is easily mounted on a heavy tripod, so no problem.

Today I saw some impressive stacked images that had been captured with an APS-C Nikon using an AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G and a reversed 50mm prime in front of the zoom lens. I happen to have these lenses laying around and thought I would give this lens combination a try. However, when I get both lenses mounted on the camera, their combined weight is too much for me to rely on a camera mount for the tripod. For stability I need to mount the whole system at the camera end of the zoom ring on the 70-300.

The pictures show the setup - the pencil shows about where I would place the collar (80mm OD).

I have looked everywhere that I can think of for a compatible tripod collar, which seems like the best option. But as far as I can tell, there is no such thing. Has anyone else run into this? The OD of the 70-300 is 80mm, but I can't even find a universal collar for that OD. I can build something that will work, but I'd much rather just get a collar with an arca-type baseplate, and be done with it.

Any ideas? Anyone ever heard of a universal tripod collar?

Thanks for any fresh ideas. Allan

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Good day all,
I think the time has come for me to eat a little crow. During the last month or so, I have been very critical of Nikon and the handling of my defective D850 by the repair facility. So, with hat in hand....
I have had the camera back for over two weeks now and it has functioned perfectly. Using it every day, I have taken thousands of pictures, with no power issues whatsoever. I have decided to leave the battery grip in its box, as I am now almost certain that this was the root of the problem all along.
Nikon contacted me last week and asked me to send them all my shipping receipts for the two trips to the repair center. Today they emailed to let me know a check had been mailed to cover these costs.
I feel more than a little embarrassed by my impatience and negative attitude.
Hats off to Nikon for resolving the problem and doing the right thing despite having to deal with a grumpy and ungrateful customer.
Thanks to the UHH community for the support and advice.
I think we can consider this case closed.
Allan

I did try turning on the lens VR but it only made the images less sharp. Fingers crossed that the sorbothane will do the trick.

Hahaha... it would take me until I move out to understand a word of that! I'm just going to turn the AC off to shoot stacks. But with a heat index of 109 degrees today, I'll keep the stacks short!

Me too. I love Zerene. But when my source images have motion blur, it has nothing to work with. The vibration is pretty bad!

Thanks everyone! All great input. Given the (hopefully) temporary nature of my vibration problem, I'm going to give the sorbothane dampener blocks a shot. As far as attaching the camera to the specimen table, that is in the works. I'm building an all-in-one platform with a series of micrometer adjustment platforms and StackShot rail. Faster speeds and more light were the first thing I tried. They both helped, but not enough.
Thanks again!

Thanks Andy! That all sounds like excellent advice. I should have mentioned that this house is likely to be a temporary dwelling, so the solutions you recommend would make great sense as they would move with me. Thanks for putting so much thought into your response. Allan